In the Clearing

by Robert Frost

Dust jacket photograph by David H. Rhinelander. His later collection of poetry that includes "The Gift Outright" which he recited at the inauguration of President Kennedy in 1961.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Nonfiction, Literature, American, 20th Century

101 pages, Hardcover

First published August 13, 1957

About the author

Flinty, moody, plainspoken and deep, Robert Frost was one of America's most popular 20th-century poets. Frost was farming in Derry, New Hampshire when, at the age of 38, he sold the farm, uprooted his family and moved to England, where he devoted himself to his poetry. His first two books of verse, A Boy's Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914), were immediate successes. In 1915 he returned to the United States and continued to write while living in New Hampshire and then Vermont. His pastoral images of apple trees and stone fences -- along with his solitary, man-of-few-words poetic voice -- helped define the modern image of rural New England. Frost's poems include "Mending Wall" ("Good fences make good neighbors"), "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" ("Whose woods these are I think I know"), and perhaps his most famous work, "The Road Not Taken" ("Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- / I took the one less traveled by"). Frost was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry four times: in 1924, 1931, 1937 and 1943. He also served as "Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress" from 1958-59; that position was renamed as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry (or simply Poet Laureate) in 1986.

Frost recited his poem "The Gift Outright" at the 1961 inauguration of John F. Kennedy... Frost attended both Dartmouth College and Harvard, but did not graduate from either school... Frost preferred traditional rhyme and meter in poetry; his famous dismissal of free verse was, "I'd just as soon play tennis with the net down."

Reviews

[Zea · Rating 3 out of 5]

this isn’t great but the last couple of poems did make me cry a little bit! and that’s all that matters!

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frost affirms the quasi-divinity of humanity, purpose, progress. Worse, he implies they peak in America. Other, better poems: Milkweed, Cabin, Draft Horse.

[Sophia Hill]

so I don’t think I really get Robert Frost tbh

[Stan Lake · Rating 3 out of 5]

“In The Clearing” was the final book from Robert Frost. It came out a year before his death. To be honest, as much as I love his work, I didn’t really enjoy this particular book. It just felt disjointed and many of the poems just felt like throw aways. There were a handful of decent ones towards the end, but this book just felt forced. The predictable rhyme scheme also felt lazy in spots. Still, this doesn’t dethrone Frost one of my favorite poets, but this book wasn’t great.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember at one time in my life when I loved poetry. Loved it to no end. But then, I read poem after poem after poem in college, and I burned out. It wasn't until Shel Silverstein, when Catherine was a toddler, that I re-thought my burn out of poetry. Humor and creativity made me love Silverstein. But I honestly haven't really re-visited the genre with real intent. Matt made a visit to Vermont and brought back Robert Frost's In the Clearing as a present to me. Have never read Frost, except "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening," which has turned into a children's book that we own, and I have read many times to each of my kids. I found that I really like him. He stays in generally the same subject matter: discussing the true nature of patriotism, questioning the roots of America, questioning faith and God. But what I love is that he has a sense of humor in some of works. He's sarcastic, almost New England snobbery but with more charm, so he's tolerable. I like it. Also, his rhyming often seems simplistic, however, it is done so well that if you really listen and look at what he is saying, it doesn't seem so simple, which few can pull off.

[Jacqueline Galdames · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite.

In winter in the woods alone
Against the trees I go.
I mark a maple for my own
And lay the maple low.

At four o'clock I shoulder axe
And in the afterglow
I link a line of shadowy tracks
Across the tinted snow.

I see for Nature no defeat
In one tree's overthrow
Or for myself in my retreat
For yet another blow.

[Juletta Gilge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, I've read some other collections by Frost, and I have to say this isn't his best work. There were a few good pieces, but overall it felt disconnected.

On the plus side, this is a pretty short collection, and you can take your time going through it.

[R.L.S.D · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I often like and respect Frost, this particular volume of his late poetry functions more as an artifact of the mid century than as a contribution to Frost's poetic importance.

[Lisa M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read my first Frost collection in December of 2013 - maybe it is my new winter tradition!

One of my complaints about the first Frost collection I read was that his mastery of rhythm and rhyme wavered throughout the collection. I would say that of this collection as well. This book really disappointed me. If I never read Frost before and only entered this book with the knowledge that Frost is a revered poet I would have asked, "... why?" The rhythm in these poems was more off than not. He relied way too much on slant rhyme (when I googled to verify this was the term I am looking for in my hungover state, google informed me that this form is also known as 'lazy rhyme', which feels appropriate here.) If addition to that many of these poems were very long. The length, combined with the poor rhythm/rhyme, made me lose my train of though while reading the poems to myself. When I read poetry I read to myself and than out loud to appreciate the rhythm. It was a struggle to read several of these poems because the rhythm was so bad.

I still found myself taking photos of the poems that resonated with me, though (I take pictures of poems/passages I really like in library books.) There were glimpses of hope here, but other poems were awful. Like the first collection I read, perhaps this should have been edited more?


In 2013 I observed that Frost was deeper than I thought. I grew up thinking that he only wrote simple poems about nature. I was wrong! The thing I enjoyed most about this collection was Frost's humor, his honesty, his self-deprecation. He explores several topics beyond nature here, as well. Most of his nature poems have a deeper meaning, anyway.

It was also interesting reading Frost's poem that he read for JFK. If you're interested in history, this book may have that appeal to you as well.

[A.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of poetry has such a different tone and feel than the earlier works of Robert Frost that I have read. The poems are less about nature than human nature - more philosophical, metaphysical and even political. I really enjoyed them.

Here is an interesting one that has a quantum undertone:

A Never Naught Song

There was never naught,
There was always thought.
But when noticed first
It was fairly burst
Into having weight.
It was in a state
Of atomic One.
Matter was begun -
And in fact complete,
One and yet discrete
To conflict and pair.
Everything was there
Every single thing
Waiting was to bring,
Clear from hydrogen
All the way to men.
It is all the tree
It will ever be,
Bole and branch and root
Cunningly minute.
And this gist of all
Is so infra-small
As to blind our eyes
To its every guise
And so render nil
The whole Yggdrasil.*
Out of coming-in
Into having been!
So the picture's caught
Almost next to naught
But the force of thought.

*The tree of life in Norse cosmology

[Richard Epstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

The trouble with ratings like this is that you're trapped. Once you've given the latest thriller 4 stars, what do you do with Frost? This was his last collection. It was not his best; the diminution of his powers was evident. But ...

Oh, some as soon would throw it all
As throw a part away.
And some will say all sorts of things,
But some mean what they say.

[Gretchen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert Frost comes from such a different time than me. I almost see his optimism for God and Country as naive. I also have a fondness for his short quirky poems, reminding me of my grandfather (who has passed) but also came from the Greatest Generation and saw the world very differently than me.

[Gareth Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A last great gasp of poetry from Frost. He muses on ageing and questions whether science has all the answers as it continues to shrink the universe. A fine combination of facility of language with a sharp sit and telling observation.

[Eugenea Pollock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark, sad, encapsulated in the last poem of this last book, “In winter in the woods alone...”. He died early in the next year.

[Alex Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's poetry, it is hard for me to really savor it when I am in that novel reading mindset. There were a couple poems that stood out to me, but that was it, only a couple.

[Emily Meacham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robert Frost is always a fascinating read. This collection was a little uneven to me -- some of the poems spoke to me more than others -- but it's still an amazing and inspiring group of poems.

[Jose Vazquez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was Robert Frost's last collection of poetry ever published and it flickers in the moments he questions humanity's hunger for progress through beautiful manifestations of nature (Milkweed, Cabin in the Clearing, Version, Kitty Hawk, Auspex, Peril of Hope, Our Doom to Bloom). There are also moments of humor like in his poem, "The Objection to Being Stepped On."

The weaker parts of his collection express a type of manifest destiny that felt misplaced and in contradiction to how man consistently blunders when attempting to clutch and control nature. The lauding of Columbus in "America is Hard to See" and "The Gift Outright." The moments he deviates from nature are when things seem...less introspective.

[Chris J · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Frost's final collection of poetry, published just over a year before he died in 1963. While not life-changing, there is a cumulative effect derived from this volume that one would not experience if he/she only read them stand alone. I understand what is meant when Frost is described as a straight-forward poet but I found there to be a strong "slantedness" to most of the poems in this particular collection.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

How did I miss as a youngster how much manifest destiny there is in Frost's poetry? "The land was ours before we were the lands", no Bob, the land belonged to somebody else and we massacred them for it.

Don't get me wrong, this is still well crafted verse and there's a dry New Englander humor running through it I mostly enjoy, but ooft. The hyper-masculine praise of self and country? Not good Bob.

[Descending Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frost's last poetry collection is much like his last couple volumes, uneven but with some flashs of greatness. JFK's inauguration poem is stunning. Highlights ~ "Pod Of the Milkweed" "Away!" " For John F. Kennedy His Inauguration" "Accidentally on Purpose" " A Concept Self Conceived" "Auspex" "Questioning Faces" and "How Hard it is to Keep From Being King When It's in You and in the Situation".

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Things this collection taught me: Robert Frost poems can be quite silly. Also, you can write a poem about anything (e.g., accidentally stepping on a garden hoe).

My favorites: Pod of the Milkweed (genuinely educational), Away!, America Is Hard to See, The Objection to Being Stepped On (about the hoe), A-Wishing Well, The Milky Way Is a Cowpath, Quandary, and Four-Room Shack Aspiring High.

[Autumn · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have known that I struggle with Frost. His poetry is not always entirely appealing to me- and so I have put off even trying to read his works. I found this book for $1 at a book sale, and it was relatively short- you can't waste a dollar on a book, right?

Wrong.

[Patsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard for me to give this a rating, let alone a review. I read this because my book club chose it, and I'm glad I did. I plan to go back to it when I can, and try to glean more than I did this time.

[Trenton Class]

There were moments in this collection I enjoyed. I liked the simple and easy rhyme/cadence of these as well. But for the most part I wasn't necessarily jiving with them. It'd veer into an American spiritualism that I wasn't a fan of.

[Sam Kauffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started by reading aloud to my grandmother in hospice and then picked up a finished this year. This experience will forever give these poems a special personal meaning. That view aside, I found for the first or maybe second time an appreciation for poetry. Will likely read again someday.

[Isabella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a read if you're into cannonical American poetry. Otherwise, I would suggest opting for Frost's earlier collections, which focus more on nature than on politics.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Questioning Faces" was my favourite. Brief but a beautiful piece, the essence of Frost in a few clean lines.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

People should just ignore reviews I leave on poetry because they will never be good

[Nancy (Colorado) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite Frost poems.